On October 29, Romelu Lukaku experienced one of the worst evenings of his career, with a stormy return to the pitch of his former club Inter Milan. Feeling betrayed by Lukaku’s choice to join AS Roma, after having negotiated at length with the Nerazzurri, the supporters made him go through hell, and the pitch did not comfort him since the match was won by the Interists on a goal from… Marcus Thuram, the man who brilliantly replaced him at the forefront of the attack.
This weekend, it’s time for the return match, in Rome, between the two teams. The opportunity for the Corriere dello Sport to highlight the two men, with crossed destinies. “The Gladiators”, they nickname them, in particular because of their imposing, almost similar physique. The goal statistics are too, since with the Giallorossi, Lukaku has found the net 9 times this season, compared to 8 for Thuram with Inter. However, Thuram delivered 7 assists, compared to only 1 for the Belgian.
Thuram convinced, Lukaku resists
Above all, on the Italian side, we are captivated by the association between Thuram and Lautaro Martinez. The two men immediately understood each other, the integration of the French striker happened at great speed, in particular thanks to his mastery of Italian, and their complementarity, both tactical and technical. Was the “Lula” duo (for Lukaku-Lautaro) admired? The “Thula” duo commands the respect of the Italian media, who were not initially convinced by the profile of Thuram, who arrived from Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Thuram therefore made Inter forget Lukaku, even though he could have been the Belgian’s understudy. Indeed, the Lombard club’s initial plan was to recover the Belgian, whom Chelsea still did not want to keep, and to add Thuram into the equation, arriving for free. Thuram was actually coming to replace Edin Dzeko, who had left at the end of his contract at Fenerbahçe, and to share playing time with Lukaku. Today, he is indeed the official starter, and intends to catch up with his rival in the scorers’ rankings this Saturday.
